JPMA Code of Practice

1 1 JPMA code of Practice (Established on January 16, 2013) (Enforced on April 1, 2013) (Revised on May 25, 2017) (Enforced on October 1, 2017) japan pharmaceutical manufacturers association (JPMA) [Preamble] japan pharmaceutical manufacturers association (JPMA) was established in 1968 as an organization of R&D-based pharmaceutical companies. The member companies of JPMA consider it their mission to contribute to improvements in the health and welfare of people in japan and throughout the world through the development of safer, innovative, and highly useful pharmaceuticals.

2 To support optimal medical care that is ethical and patient-oriented, JPMA calls upon member companies to build mutual relationships of trust with researchers, healthcare professionals, and patient organizations through appropriate industry-academia collaborations. 1. History of JPMA s Efforts To avoid inappropriate inducements of prescription in promotional activities for ethical drugs, JPMA drew up its code of practices for Promotion of Ethical Drugs in 1976. In 1981, against the backdrop of heightening social concern over the proper use of drugs, the International Federation of pharmaceutical manufacturers & Associations (IFPMA) perceived the establishment and implementation of a code governing promotional activities to be an important international requirement, and it established the IFPMA code of pharmaceutical Marketing Practice , a code of standards for pharmaceutical companies in countries throughout the world.

3 Then, in 1988, the World Health Organization (WHO) established its Ethical Criteria for Medicinal Drug Promotion (hereinafter referred to as the WHO Ethical Criteria ) for the purpose of supporting and encouraging the improvement of medical care through the rational use of drugs. IFPMA responded to this by extensively revising the IFPMA code of pharmaceutical Marketing Practice the same year, and it made compliance with this code a requirement for IFPMA membership. JPMA, while striving for consistency with this code as a member of IFPMA, established the JPMA Promotion code for Prescription Drugs in 1993 on the basis of a consensus among its member companies.

4 This Promotion code is grounded in the spirit of Federation of pharmaceutical manufacturers Associations of japan (FPMAJ) code of Ethical Practice for pharmaceutical Companies , and it establishes the proper nature of prescription drug promotion and the standards of conduct with which pharmaceutical companies in japan are required to comply. This code has subsequently been revised a number of times to reflect changes in the law, etc. Moreover, in order to ensure a high degree of ethicality throughout all corporate activities of pharmaceutical companies, JPMA Charter for the Activities of pharmaceutical Companies was drawn up in November 1997 as a set of self-regulations for member companies.

5 In April 2001, JPMA Compliance Program Guidelines were issued to promote more thorough legal compliance on the part of member companies. They were then revised in March 2011 to reflect the changing times. In March 2012, IFPMA announced its IFPMA code of Practice (hereinafter referred to as the IFPMA code ) as a 2 code covering not only marketing activities but also exchange with healthcare professionals, medical institutions, and patient organizations, as well as the promotion of pharmaceuticals, to replace the existing IFPMA code of pharmaceutical Marketing practices .

6 In line with the tenor of this revision of the IFPMA code , JPMA established its JPMA code of Practice (hereinafter referred to as the JPMA code ) in January 2013 to expand upon the existing JPMA Promotion code for Prescription Drugs while governing exchange between all of the executives and employees of the member companies and researchers, healthcare professionals, and patient organizations, and this JPMA code has been enforced since April of the same year. In addition, to ensure that pharmaceutical companies fulfill their responsibilities regarding information disclosure and accountability for payments to healthcare professionals and medical institutions from the standpoint of conflicts of interest, etc.

7 , JPMA established Guidelines for Transparency of Relationship between pharmaceutical Companies and Medical Institutions, etc. (hereinafter referred to as the Medical Institutions Transparency Guidelines ) in January 2011 and has continued to revise it as needed. In accordance with their own guiding principles based on these Guidelines, the member companies have been publicly disclosing such information since fiscal year 2013 with the consent of healthcare professionals, medical institutions, etc. Similarly, with respect to relationships with patient organizations, Guidelines for Transparency of Relationship between Corporate Activities and Patient Organizations (hereinafter referred to as Patient Organization Transparency Guidelines ) was established in March 2012, and such information has been publicly disclosed since fiscal year 2014.

8 At this time, we intend to revise the JPMA code established in 2013 to make the content compatible with the times and incorporate the notifications that have been issued since the code was established. The revised version is to be enforced as of October 2017. 2. Ethics of pharmaceutical Companies In general, competition in corporations has a natural tendency to heat up to an immoderate extent, and we cannot deny that this kind of conduct existed in drug promotion in the past. For this reason, numerous legal regulations and industry self-regulations have been established today, beginning with the Law on Securing Quality, Efficacy and Safety of Products Including Drugs and Medical Devices (hereinafter referred to as the Drugs and Medical Devices Law ) and including the Fair Competition code concerning Restriction on Premium Offers in Ethical pharmaceutical Drugs Marketing Industry (hereinafter referred to as the Fair Competition code )

9 , Guideline for the Preparation of Product Information Brochures of Ethical Drugs (hereinafter referred to as the Guideline for Brochure Preparation ), and the Guidelines for the Training and Education of MRs . As is generally known, drugs have the following characteristics. (1) We cannot know the nature of a drug by its appearance. (2) Drugs have both effects and side effects, the occurrence of which differs from patient to patient. (3) Thus, drugs that are not accompanied by correct drug information cannot truly function as medicine. (4) Patients who require treatment are the only consumers, and consumption cannot be created by sales promotion.

10 It is because drugs have these characteristics that the numerous legal regulations and industry self-regulations mentioned in the opening are necessary. At the same time, the environment surrounding pharmaceutical companies is becoming more diverse and complicated, and events that cannot be fully addressed by the philosophies and methods of the past are occurring one after another. In addition, society is calling on pharmaceutical companies to bring greater fairness and transparency to their relationships 3 with healthcare professionals.